It has been proposed that in-brace correction is the best guideline for prediction of the results of brace treatment for patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS). However, bracing may be a stressful experience for patients and bracing non-compliance could be psychologically related. The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation between brace compliance, in-brace correction and QoL of patients with AIS.

The application of self-determination theory in explaining student achievement has been well-established in various contexts. However, its application to medical education, particularly in interpro...

Interprofessional education (IPE) has been promoted as a breakthrough in healthcare because of the impact when professionals work as a team. However, despite its inception dating back to the 1960s,...

Background: This study explored the association of students’ mental health with their support system, identified the preferred ways and sources of support, investigated the perceived usefulness of available university support, and recommended actionable strategies to enhance students’ mental health. Method: An online questionnaire survey and semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted in 2021. Results: Among 1121 university students, 39.4% reported anxiety symptoms, which were less common in Chinese students and those pursuing medical and health programmes. Overall, 32.6% reported depression symptoms, which were more common in undergraduates. Both anxiety and depression symptoms were less common in students with higher resilience and support system and more common in students with family distress. Students with higher resilience had a better support system and less family distress. Perceived support from universities was lower than from peers and families. Peer support and phone contacts were the most preferred sources and ways of support. The most useful available university support was updated university guidelines, and the least useful was the emotional hotline service from universities The qualitative findings corroborated the quantitative results. Conclusion: We suggested that a holistic care approach and more proactive student-oriented university support would help students face adversity and enhance mental health.

Aim: Internationalization at Home (IaH) strategies play an important role in nursing curricula to enhance nursing students' cultural awareness in the globalized world. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) is a theoretical framework for the optimal design of online learning environments to support critical inquiry and discourse among students and teachers. To optimise nursing students' online cultural awareness learning experiences, it was timely to develop online IaH strategies based on a sound theoretical model. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of CoI‐guided online IaH strategies on enhancing the cultural awareness of nursing undergraduates who enrolled in a community nursing course.Design: This was an interventional pre‐test post‐test study.Method: One hundred and six nursing undergraduates who enrolled in the course participated in the study. The online IaH strategies were developed focusing on the interactions of teaching presence, cognitive presence and social presence of CoI framework and they were integrated into the course. A previously validated Cultural Awareness Scale was adopted for pre‐post evaluation. Higher scores indicate greater cultural awareness.Results: The results showed that there was a significantly higher total score of cultural awareness of participating students at post‐online IaH strategies. To be effective, aligning CoI‐guided online IaH strategies with course content, pedagogy and assessment was shown to be significant. The inclusion of technological elements in related strategies was also critical to engage student learning. The positive change on the total score of cultural awareness suggested the effectiveness of the deployed strategies. In this ever‐changing educational landscape, it may provide insights to educators regarding considering online IaH strategies with theoretical underpinning for curriculum planning and design.